Sergey Kornilov & Alex Bel - 2023 - Sectum [mini-review]

(50:21; Archery Kitchen)

Russian artists Sergey Kornilov & Alex Bel are out with the album "Sectum", and progressive rock is probably the best description to give the landscapes explored on this production. The main association I get when listening to this album is that, apart from the more distinct folk-music oriented opening song, these are compositions written in a similar manner as a classical symphonic orchestra work but performed by electronic instruments and rock music instruments and also rearranged for those instruments. I believe I can hear the calling cards of elements that could have been performed by an orchestra throughout, but with synthesizers, guitars, programmed rhythms and regular drums delivering the goods instead. Sometimes in an ambient and futuristic manner that gives me associations to Vangelis and his science fiction inspired landscapes in particular, but more often than not with a dark and industrial vibe as an ongoing feature, with a very distinct ominous and dystopian vibe as a recurring mood element. But something of a common denominator are instrument elements and details of a quirkier nature, and of the kind that gives me some automatic associations towards the likes of King Crimson and Robert Fripp. Almost to the point of having me thinking that if Robert Fripp teamed up with Nine Inch Nails to make contemporary classical music in a rock and electronic style delivery, the end result wouldn't be all that far removed from the landscapes explored on this production. A production to seek out by those who find the notion of a dark, dystopian and markedly different take on the progressive rock legacy to be of interest.

Olav "Progmessor" Björnsen, September 2023